| Peak | Cucamonga Peak |
|---|---|
| Group | Idiot Friends Hiking Crew |
| Trailhead | Icehouse |
We had a beautiful hike all the way up to the saddle, but once we were there the wind caught us and chilled us to the bone! After enjoying the scenery and a sandwich, we attempted to hit the trail for the peak. It was frozen solid! The trail was invisible and the snow and ice made it just a slope. With only two sets of crampons for three people we tried to go on for a little with just one crampon each on two of us, but soon decided to call it quits. Everyone we had seen go in, we soon saw come out with the same conclusion…too risky! We had summited the peak last year and knew what kind of view we were missing out on, but we decided to just enjoy our hard lemonades there and head back down. We still had a decent 7.4 mile day and enjoyed every minute of it. We’ll be back! The Idiot Friends will hike another day…
Smart move. As Ed Viesturs says, “Getting to the top is optional. Getting back down is not.”
What day were you guys out there? My husband and I summited this past Saturday, 3/25 so we may have seen you if that was the day you were out there! We came prepared with crampons/ice axe but saw lots of people turning around, even those with microspikes, due to icy conditions in the morning. Always better to be smart and stay safe!
Thanks, Jeff! We definitely made the right choice with the gear we had.
And Hi Amy! I’ll bet we did see you that day, I think we even got to the parking lot at the same time. I’m guessing you were the couple we saw gearing up at the saddle while we were eating our sandwiches. Kudos to you both for getting to the summit! I was pretty bummed that we didn’t bring enough gear to do it, but we’ll get it next time!